Monday, May 20, 2013

Florida Alligator-Handler Lifeguard Pulls Shark Back Into Water

COCOA
BEACH, Florida -- Just after noon on Sunday, a shark approximately 5 feet
long swam into less than 3 inches of water near where a large group of
young children were playing in the sand.

A
Brevard County Ocean Rescue lifeguard, Zach Cooney, came rushing down
the beach to intercept the shark, witnesses say. The lifeguard then
grabbed the
shark by the tail and pulled it back into deeper water where it was
released (Despite young witnesses' accounts, it was not a great white
shark.)

The
lifeguard was then joined by other lifeguards calling swimmers out of
the water just south of the Cocoa Beach Pier to avoid the shark. As
seen in the video below, a bystander gives Cooney a pat on the back for a
job well done.

According to his family's website, cooneyworldadventures.com, Cooney's parents "sold virtually everything they owned to take their
three teenage sons on an around the world trek," in 2008. Cooney
appears to be a Steve Irwin "The Crocodile Hunter" of sorts during his
globe trotting adventures. Many of his Facebook photos show him straddling alligators, elephants, and posing right next to an uncaged lion. "The lifeguard that moved the shark is certified to handle alligators, so
he was the obvious choice to safely mitigate the situation," said Brevard County Fire Rescue spokesperson Donald Slayman.

As reported by Brevard Times in its surf report over the last few weeks, small sharks have been spotted chasing bait fish into the shallow surf.

Brevard
County surpassed Volusia County as the #1 county in Florida for shark
attacks. Florida remains the number #1 state in the U.S. for shark
attacks.